Farmhouse Cuvée

Our winter club-only release, Farmhouse Cuvée, is inspired by the centuries-old European tradition of brewing what you drink right on the farm that you care for. 

The farmhouse beers that inspired this blend were originally made on French and Belgian farms during the winter. They brewed this time of year just so that it would be matured and ready to drink in the summer, right when the farmers wanted something light and refreshing while they worked in the heat. Given the cold temperatures during the brewing season, their beers would have fermented slowly, leading to a dry and crisp beverage.

And having been fermented out in the country, their beers would pick up all kinds of wild yeast in the air and tend to have some naturally funky flavors. To us, the “farmhouse” in Farmhouse Cuvée means fermented with these alternative kinds of micro-flora rather than the very common yeast strains used in the everyday pilsners, lagers and IPAs. 

We are also calling this new beer a cuvée, a term used in other industries to mean a blend. As blenders, we taste through our store of barrels looking for flavor and aroma profiles that will complement and enhance one another. We chose barrels that wouldn’t allow maltiness to mask light notes of fruit, or too much acidity to overwhelm wonderful floral aromas. 

The barrels we chose had been aging between 12 and 24 months, allowing our house culture of brettanomyces to create wonderful light fruity aromas. We then dry hopped this blend with pekko hops to accentuate the notes of light melon and citrus and also highlight some of the earthiness we found in the beer. 

We made just enough of this beer to get bottles to our club members and still have enough left to pour at the tasting room and get us through a season — a lot like Belgian farmers would have wanted!

We hope you enjoy this special small batch blend. Cheers!